HANDWRITTEN TRAVEL DIARY - ASIA - CHINA - Hong Kong - Beijing - Yangtze River - Mao - Chinese




Item History & Price

Information:
Reference Number: Avaluer:566Year Printed: 1980
Subject: Exploration & TravelTopic: Diaries & Correspondence
Original/Facsimile: OriginalBinding: Red Hardboard Covers-A Notebook Diary
Language: EnglishRegion: Asia
Place of Publication: United States & ChinaIllustrator: Loose Colorful Unused Stamps-Brochures-&c
Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Illustrated, Manuscript
Original Description:
FANTASTIC, ORIGINAL HANDWRITTEN TRAVEL DIARY TO THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA WITH A GROUP OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE ALUMNI ON A STUDY AND TOUR VISIT TO COMMUNES, THE STONE FOREST, VILLAGE OF FIVE TREES, THE GREAT WALL, TEMPLES, BUDDHAS, TIANANMEN SQUARE, ETC. IN 1980. The author of this incredible and exquisitely detailed diary is Mary Whitford Streit and she travels in a group of 35, that includes her husband Vic, Swarthmore Alumni, two professors and interpreters, on a marvelous tour in... the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Mary describes in vivid detail every segment of their journey. The trains and their accommodations; the hotels; communes; historical monuments; great halls and tombs; The Forbidden City; The Great Wall; The Great Hall of the People; Divine Light Monastery; Temple of Marquis Wu;  schools; students; the population; language; their treatment; where tourists could and could not eat, (foreigners never can eat in the Chinese People's Restaurant; the Yangtze River (Yung Kiang) where Mao Zedong's swim is still celebrated with pictures and banners; the art school, and so many other places that the ordinary tourist did not get a chance to visit. All the stamps, receipts, ephemera, etc. shown in the galley picture on top of the book, are loose and tucked inside an envelope in the back of this journal. Nothing is affixed to the front cover of the diary. (Additional images after listing.)
There is also an appealing letter from Elisabeth and Patrick Booz, Foreign Experts at Yunnan University in Kunming, Yunnan, RPC, stating that they need books and material, which was something they talked about when Mary and Vic visited this college. Mary would write on several pages in this diary to cover one day; from breakfast with some very unusual food, to wheresoever they decided to travel that day, and she will do it with copious handwritten entries that describe everything from A to Z, which often takes up as many as five or six pages in this journal. Reading this diary I discovered so much more about China than I ever knew, and she writes with such eloquent verbiage that I could not put this handwritten travel book down until I had read it cover to cover. It is an intriguing journey and a very worthy acquisition indeed. Included in an envelope at back of this dairy are numerous receipts; brochures; travel pamphlets; unused stamps from China, etc.

Their journey begins in San Francisco on May 20, 1980, with a group of Swarthmoreans from the age of 20 to 80 and on May 22 they were on American Airlines flying over Japan with beautiful views of Mt. Fujiyama; they arrived in Kowloon and were transported by bus to the Ambassador Hotel on Nathan St.. Because there was a "typhoon watch" in the China Sea and their guide was very cautious not to go too far from the hotel. They visited the Tiger Balm Gardens; Repulse Bay; Victoria Peak; Aberdeen, etc They went to dinner in Hong Kong and returned to the hotel by bus and ferry. Mary describes the public transportation; the sights and sounds; the food and the people. "it looks as if 80% of the population is under thirty. In general, people are well dressed. Children are allowed to run freely, playing in stores and on the street. Fathers are good with them. We went by taxi to the Repulse Bay Hotel. It's in a beautiful setting overlooking the crowded beach and bathing area - swimmers are packed onto the floats like subway rush hours - a flotilla of orange "canoes" (kayaks), sightseeing junks. While we were sitting in the garden a pert Japanese girl came up and asked if she could have her picture taken with us! Coming down from the hotel was very slow with traffic everywhere and barely creeping. Construction work was going on even on Sunday. Every seat was taken on the ferry (2nd class)."

"Monday, 5/26 leaving Hong Kong. On the train to Guangzhou the Red Chinese train was quite elegant. We had a block of seats reserved in a "soft seat" car, ; the other half of the car had a group from the Univ. of PA. The seats could recline, and the pair could be swiveled around. There were crocheted antima-cessars on the backs. At the windows there were lace curtains, and also a darkening curtain. A girl brought around tea. The loo was the old stand-up kind. There was a tiny basin Pink toilet paper was very soft; the Chinese are supposed to have researched, and produced, the type that tourists would like. During the 3 hour trip one girl kept busy mopping the floor and wiping up the little shelves where we set our mugs. Everything was immaculate, and the train left and arrived on time. In an effort to please foreign visitors the air conditioning was at maximum and we all froze!"

"Hong Kong's New Territories were well cultivated. We saw the new H. K. University, and people fishing (clamming?) in the lake across. We didn't have to stop at the border, but saw a gun turret and the fence. Most trains still stop and people pass through customs there (Lo Wah?) and pick a different train on the other side. A train to Hong Kong was stopped and every available seat was taken. Things changed fast on the other side. There were no cars at all - a few trucks, but mostly bicycles in very good repair. Fields were green (mostly with rice) as far as you could see. Lots of water - ponds - irrigation ditches, canal like rivers. The mountains (or hills) were rounded; every once in a while one stood alone, like in Thailand. We saw a lot of individual peasants, each standing with two water buffalo. The standard head gear is a straw coolie hat with a wide silk band hanging down all around. We didn't have to go through customs, but got right on a bus for a city sightseeing tour, while our checked luggage went right to the hotel, The Pai Yun."

"The hotel is huge, 32 stories and 1500 beds! Floors 1-17 are for oriental guests; you can recognize them from the outside by the laundry hanging in the windows. Maybe they don't have air conditioning as we do. The room is quite spartan; terrazzo floors; pale beige walls; no pictures; twin beds with rope spring and one fluorescent strip light. The desk has two unusual items - a bottle of ink and a bottle of mucilage to seal the envelopes. Another amenity is a big thermos of very hot water, a tray with a China teapot and two cups and saucers, and a bamboo canister of tea. We arrived about 5:30 to hear we are going to have a Chinese breakfast at 6:30 tomorrow and leave by plane for Nanning at 8." 
After their flight they arrive in Nanning and unpack at the Yungkiang Hotel "We took a walk to the Winter Swim Pavilion across the street to snap some Polaroid shots.The trouble with that is that people want to see and then they keep them. The Pavilion commemorates Chairman Mao's January swim across the Yung Kiang (Yangtze) River in 1958? That was about the time that this became an autonomous province. This morning we headed out on an hour's ride to a commune." Mary goes into great detail about the conditions in the commune, the children, the homes, etc. Their journey continues as they travel to Kunming, Chengdu, Peking, (Beijing), etc. On June 12 they flew home on a Pan-Am 747 that was quite full, "including two big families of "boat-people" refugees.

Our author: Mary Whitford Streit, was a graduate of Jamaica High School, NY, Mary received her B.A. in French from Swarthmore College where she was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar. She earned an M.A. from Columbia University and did further graduate work at UCLA. During World War II, Mary worked for the French government in the US, The Voice of America, and at Salem Academy, NC. Mary taught high school French and Spanish on Long Island for 20 years and was the first president of the Levittown, NY, chapter of the American Association of University Women. Together with her husband of 72 years, Victor Streit, Mary traveled extensively in retirement, visiting over 100 countries around the world. The couple also established a secondary school, Wesley College, in Grenada, W.I., under the auspices of the Board of Global Ministries of the Methodist Church. Mary and Vic moved to Florida, to Little Club in Tequesta in 1983, and to Allegro in Jupiter in 2012. Mary died in July of 2016.They had four children, Robert, Andrew, Daniel, and Lydia. She died at the age of 97, after living a full life and a life of service.

Condition: Mary kept this diary in a regular spiral notebook and has written on 66 pages; each one totally covered with crisp and clear handwritten entries; and she was quite a humorous person; even often laughing at herself. Notebook diary measures approx. 9 x 11 and once you start to read it you will be spell bound and will not be able to put it down until you read it from cover to cover.

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